248 



DISASTERS IN 1899. 



DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 



with steamer City of Augusta in New York har- 

 bor. Train wrecked, Crofton, Ky., 6 persons hurt 

 by an explosion of an oil tank, wreck mostly 

 burned. 



Summary of train accidents in October: 155 

 collisions, *121 derailments, others; total, 292. 

 Killed: 2G employees, 4 passengers, 14 others; 

 total, 44. Hurt: 107 employees, 48 passengers, 13 

 others; total, 108. 



Fires in October: Duqueen. Ark., sundry build- 

 ings $-'50000; DCS Monies, Io\\a. stores, $435,000; 

 Mill Valley. Cal., forest, $280,000: Brooklyn, 

 X. Y., warehouses, $500,000; Oakland, Cal., resi- 

 dence,' $300.000: Hackettstown, X. Y., colleges, 

 $300.000. Total fires in October, 195; aggregate 

 loss, $12,040,250. 



November 1. Shipwreck: schooner William M. 

 Hird, off C'ape Romain, South Carolina, 6 lives 

 lost. 



2. Trains wrecked, Georgetown, S. C., and 

 Laceyville, Pa., G killed, 3 hurt. Shipwreck: 

 United States steamship Charleston, off Luzon, 

 Philippine Islands. 



4. Trains in collision, Radnor, W. Va., 2 killed. 



8. Trains in collision, Kokomo, Ind., 16 hurt. 

 1). Train derailed, Alexis, Mich., 13 hurt. 



12. Trains in collision, McKee's Rocks, Pa., 3 

 killed. 



13. Trains in collision, Lindley, N. Y., 2 killed. 

 15. Trains derailed, Riverton, Va., 4 killed. 



17. Steamer Patria takes fire and is abandoned 

 in the North Sea. 



19. Train derailed, Humboldt, S. Dak., 6 killed, 

 4 hurt. 



22. Trains in collision, McCools, Ind., 1 killed, 4 

 hurt; cause, fog. 



24. Trains wrecked, Georgetown, Ga., and Glen- 

 wood Springs, Col., 5 killed. 



25. Trains in collision, Coshocton, Ohio, 3 killed, 

 12 hurt. 



29. Trains in collision, Paterson, N. J., 6 killed, 

 22 hurt. Fire: Lippincott's publishing house, 

 Philadelphia, and other buildings burned; loss, 

 $1,250.000. Also college buildings at Xew Athens, 

 Ohio. 



Summary of train accidents in November: 122 

 collisions, 137 derailments, 7 others; total, 266. 

 Killed: 43 employees, 9 passengers, 4 others; 

 total, 56. Hurt: 118 employees, 85 passengers, 1 

 other: total, 204. 



Fires in November: Kansas City, Mo., stores, 

 $461,000; Waukegan, 111., factories, $400,000; 

 Massillon, Ohio, stores, $250,000; Memphis, Tenn., 

 warehouses, $290,000; Montreal, Quebec, confec- 

 tionery and other buildings, $500,000; Detroit, 

 Mich., stores, $425,000. Total fires for Novem- 

 ber, 108; losses, $11,857,650. 



December 2. Destructive tidal wave on the 

 coast of Chili, many shipwrecks. 



3. Fire: Clinton, Mass., theater burned; loss, 

 $150.000. 



4. Trains in collision, Salida, Col., 6 killed, 3 

 hurt. Shipwreck : British army transport Ismore 

 lost in St. Helena Bay. 



5. Shipwreck: steamer Niagara founders in 

 Lake Erie. 16 lives lost. Fire: Meridian, Miss., 

 business block burned; loss, $250,000. 



7. Fire: Reading, Pa., factory burned; loss, 

 $250.000. 



9. Explosion: Carbonado, Wash., 32 lives lost. 



10. Fire: Augusta, Ga., hotel and other build- 

 ings; loss, $500,000. Also at Enfield, N. H, mill 

 burned; loss, $100,000. 



21. Landslide, Amalfi, Italy, convent, hotels, 

 and many other buildings fall into the sea; about 

 20 lives believed to have been lost. 



23. Explosion: fire damp at Brownsville, Pa., 



40 coal miners killed; cause, authorized use of 

 open lamps. 



24. Shipwreck: British steamer Ariosto, near 

 Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 21 drowned. 



25. Earthquake: severe shocks in southern Cali- 

 fornia. 



28. Fire: Essen, Germany, the Krupp gun 

 works; damage, $70,000. 



30. Fire: Chicago, sundry buildings burned; 

 loss, $1,000,000. 



Summary of train accidents in December: 127 

 collisions, 105 derailments, 4 others; total, 236. 

 Killed : 46 employees, 1 1 passengers, 8 others ; 

 total, 65. Hurt: 98 employees, 66 passengers, 7 

 others; total, 171. 



Fires in December: Meridian, Miss., stores, etc., 

 $250,000; Reading, Pa., factory, $275,000; New 

 York city, two fires, $940,000; Augusta, Ga., busi- 

 ness houses, $785,000; Fort Wayne, Ind., stores, 

 etc., $200,000; Chicago, 111., stores, etc., $950,000. 

 Total fires in December, 217 ; aggregate loss, $13,- 

 260,000. Total for 1899, $136,773,200. 



In the city of New York, according to the re- 

 port of the Board of Health, there were during 

 the year 1,563 accidental deaths (including those 

 by sunstroke). 



DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. A statistical re- 

 port presented at the annual Christian mission- 

 ary meetings showed that the present number 

 of churches of the Disciples was 10,298; of com- 

 municants, 1,118,396; of Bible schools, 7,765, with 

 732,642 enrolled pupils; of ministers, 6,339; and 

 of sittings in churches, 1,566,653; amount of ex- 

 penditures for all benevolences, $5,454,787; total 

 value of church property, $18,256,761. These 

 numbers represented a gain for the year of 210 

 churches, 42,781 communicants, 315 Bible schools, 

 32,597 pupils in the same, 317 ministers, 50,000 

 church sittings, $184,202 in expenditures for be- 

 nevolent purposes, and {pl,059,264 in value of 

 church property. Besides the sums raised by the 

 Foreign and American Christian Missionary So- 

 cieties, which are given in another part of this 

 article, $165,000 had been raised by the State and 

 district missionary societies, making the whole 

 amount contributed for foreign and domestic mis- 

 sions $567,296. Under the heading of contributed 

 for educational and other benevolences were in- 

 cluded $100,000 for buildings and endowments of 

 schools, $21,550 for the widows' and orphans' 

 fund, and $6,651 for ministerial relief, making a 

 total of $128,201. The sum of $4,775,000 had been 

 raised further for local church work, the whole 

 making a total of $5,470,497 for the year's con- 

 tributions. A table showing the growth of the 

 churches in membership by periods of ten years 

 gave the following numbers, " as near as could 

 be ascertained": In 1830, 12,000 members; in 

 1840, 40,000; in 1850, 118,000; in 1860, 225,000; 

 in 1870, 350,000; in 1880, 475,000; in 1890, 611,- 

 000; in 1895 (five years), 889,019; in 1899, 

 1,118,396. 



The annual meetings of the Missionary and 

 Church Extension Societies were held in Cincin- 

 nati, Ohio, Oct. 12 and the following days. The 

 meeting of the American Christian Missionary 

 Society (Domestic) was its fiftieth, and the oc- 

 casion was marked by a review in the report of 

 its work since it was organized in 1849. The 

 amount of $860,500 raised and expended during 

 that time through the treasury of the society had 

 been supplemented .by $2,300,000 raised on the 

 mission fields. Forty-six State and district boards 

 of missions had come into being under the care 

 and help of the national board and auxiliary to 

 it. The missionaries of the general board had 

 organized 2,361 churches and baptized 98,360 per- 





